Quick Links

Hildegard Lamfrom, Ph.D. – the late sister of Gert Boyle – will be remembered as a brilliant, influential researcher and devoted mentor of renowned scientists, including OHSU's Brian Druker, M.D.

Oregon Health & Science University today announced the creation of an endowed faculty chair in basic science in association with the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute that will advance its efforts to develop new molecularly targeted cancer therapies. The chair — which will help OHSU recruit a nationally known cancer researcher — was made possible by a $2.5 million multigenerational gift from Columbia Sportswear’s Boyle family: President and CEO Tim Boyle, his wife, Mary, and his mother, Chairman of the Board Gert Boyle.

The family gift is in memory of Gert Boyle’s late sister, Hildegard Lamfrom, Ph.D., for whom the chair will be named. Lamfrom died in 1984 at age 62, following a remarkable career in molecular biology marked by scientific achievement, superstar collaborators and legions of younger scientists buoyed by her mentorship. One of those beneficiaries was a promising undergraduate chemist at the University of California San Diego named Brian Druker, who today is director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.

Druker’s story underscores the powerful ripple effect of strong scientific mentoring. Lamfrom’s mentoring helped convince Druker to broaden his focus from pure laboratory science to patient care. From this development followed the career experiences that led to his development of the breakthrough anticancer compound Gleevec. This medicine has saved hundreds of thousands of patients from chronic myeloid leukemia and other cancers, and has earned Druker the 2009 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, widely regarded as the American equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

“As someone who was held in such high regard by the top scientists of her time, Hildegard made an incredible impact on my life and career,” said Druker. “I am so pleased that OHSU will be helping to preserve her legacy.”

Originally from Germany, Hildegard Lamfrom immigrated to the United States at the height of Nazi rule along with her parents and two younger sisters. Her parents settled in Portland, where they soon launched the apparel company that would grow into Columbia Sportswear. The teenage Lamfrom daughters attended Grant High School, perfected their English and readily acclimated to life in their adoptive country.

Gifted in math and science, Hildegard went on to earn her bachelor’s at Reed College, a master’s at Oregon State University, and a doctorate at what is now Case Western Reserve in Ohio. She launched her 40-plus-year scientific career at the very dawn of the field of molecular biology, when exciting work was taking place at places like California Institute of Technology and Britain’s Medical Research Council Laboratory in Cambridge. Remaining a “free agent” rather than settling into a permanent, tenure-track position, Lamfrom traveled to these and other prestigious institutions around the globe to work for, collaborate with or mentor some of the biggest names in 20th century science: Linus Pauling, Richard Feynman, James Watson, Francis Crick and a half dozen of their fellow Nobel laureates.

She was best known for her late 1950s-early 1960s work in protein synthesis, which was cited by Watson in his 1962 Nobel acceptance lecture. Her career also included productive stints at southern California’s City of Hope and Cedars of Lebanon hospitals, the Salk Institute, the University of Oregon, UC San Diego and Harvard. Overseas, she joined pioneering research teams at laboratories in Cambridge, Copenhagen, Paris and Ahmedabad, India. Preeminent research leaders sought her out because they valued her authoritative insights on scientific problems, her innovative and tenacious approach to day-to-day bench science, and her facility for mentoring younger staff members.

“Hildegard was a selfless contributor to many significant teams tackling the most vexing genetic puzzles known to science,” said Tim Boyle on behalf of his family. “She ultimately succumbed to cancer, which she believed someday would be curable. She would have wanted to be remembered as providing fanatically dedicated support to basic science, focused on the most significant health issues in the world.”

“We are so proud and pleased that the Boyle family saw fit to honor Hildegard’s legacy here at OHSU,” said OHSU President Joseph Robertson, M.D., M.B.A. “Her spirit is everywhere you look on this campus, everywhere you see someone investing their absolute all into a personal quest for knowledge. The future of science depends on our ability to instill that spirit in every OHSU scientist and student. That’s why I am so grateful to the Boyles for the opportunity to preserve Dr. Lamfrom’s legacy here at OHSU.”

Mark A. Richardson, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the OHSU School of Medicine, said the Boyles’ gift will provide a perpetual source of funding to attract talented scientists in fields corresponding to Lamfrom’s research interests. “OHSU is already in a dialog with top candidates from across the nation whose work has the potential to take cancer research — and scientific mentorship — to new heights at the university,” Richardson said. “I can’t overstate how important the resources of an endowed chair are to our ability to bring the best to OHSU. Thank you to the Boyles for this inspired gift and what it makes possible in our community, and in the global fight against cancer.”

ABOUT OHSU

Oregon Health & Science University is the state’s only health and research university and Oregon’s only academic health center. OHSU is Portland’s largest employer and the fourth largest in Oregon (excluding government). OHSU’s size contributes to its ability to provide many services and community support activities not found anywhere else in the state. It serves patients from every corner of the state, and is a conduit for learning for more than 3,400 students and trainees. OHSU is the source of more than 200 community outreach programs that bring health and education services to every county in the state.

ABOUT THE OHSU KNIGHT CANCER INSTITUTE

With the latest treatments, technologies, hundreds of research studies and approximately 400 clinical trials, the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is the only cancer center between Sacramento and Seattle designated by the National Cancer Institute — an honor earned only by the nation's top cancer centers. The honor is shared among the more than 650 doctors, nurses, scientists and staff who work together at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute to reduce the impact of cancer.

ABOUT BRIAN DRUKER, M.D.

Director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, Brian Druker, M.D., is the JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. In his early medical training, witnessing chemotherapy’s effects on patients drove him to find a better way to treat cancer. Starting in the lab, he led the development and clinical trials of the drug Gleevec for CML. Gleevec was the first-of-its-kind, highly successful daily oral medication to target damaged cells, leave healthy cells alone and cause minimal side effects. In 2009, Dr. Druker was honored with “America’s Nobel Prize,” the Lasker-DeBakey Award for Clinical Medical Research. He earned his medical degree in 1981 from the University of California San Diego, completed a residency at Barnes Hospital, Washington University (St. Louis) and held a fellowship in medical oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, before joining OHSU in 1993.

The OHSU Foundation is a separate 501(c)(3) organization that exists to secure private philanthropic support for Oregon Health & Science University. The foundation raises funds from individuals, companies, foundations and organizations, and invests and manages gifts in accordance with donors’ wishes.